


we aren't there yet

by alltears



Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, infinity war - Fandom
Genre: Ew, Infinity War spoilers, Kinda, M/M, NOT PETER/TONY, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, not team Cap friendly, well deserved fluff after infinity war
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-29
Updated: 2018-04-29
Packaged: 2019-04-29 17:42:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,026
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14477862
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alltears/pseuds/alltears
Summary: the avengers and the guardians are going to need to learn how to get along before fighting thanos. this is much harder than expected.(aka: the avengers learn about mantis' powers and tony stark deserves a good son)





	we aren't there yet

**Author's Note:**

> hello! this is somewhat of a fix-it fic for infinity war - we deserved a scene reuniting steve and tony, and i know in my heart of hearts peter isnt dead forever but oh my god that scene broke me. so here's some tony and peter father son fluff as an attempt to heal my heart.

The Avengers thought they were familiar with the Guardians of the Galaxy before the teams joined forces. They - which somehow expanded from the core group to Peter Parker, the royalty of Wakanda, and even Ned Leeks - were all briefed by Tony on the talking raccoon (“but don’t call him that!”), the tree (“he was big, then he was small, and now I think he’s a teenager?”), the tattooed man (“watch out for that one… and all of them?”), the green badass (“Natasha’s gonna love her!”), and the “annoying, sarcastic, and narcissistic” leader which, surprisingly, none of the Avengers commented on.

 

For the most part, that was accurate. Rocket, Groot, Drax, Gamora, and Quill were exactly as described. However, Gamora’s robotic sister and the woman with antennae were an unexpected addition to the team. 

 

That was probably the cause of 73% of the awkwardness the large group felt as they attempted to lounge together in the Stark Tower. The other 27% was due to Peter Parker’s nervous rambling that had been going on since they all sat down 11 minutes prior.

 

“I don’t think I’m actually an Avenger, per se. I told Ned that I am, though - Ned’s my friend and my guy-in-the-chair. You’ll meet him later I think! He’s really nice. Anyways! Ha, sorry! Mr. Stark -  _ Tony -  _ offered me the job but I had to turn him down. I mean, that was a long time ago. I’ve been working locally, see? Cause I’m still in school. Graduating soon, though! MIT already accepted me. Um… Can I touch your antennae?” Peter punctuated with a flustered laugh. Mantis’ wide-eyed expression didn’t change as she leaned closer to him. He hesitantly stuck out his hand, and poked the tip of her left antenna gently and quickly. “What does it do?”

 

“If I touch you, I can feel your emotions,” Mantis mused. “I can also alter them briefly.”

 

“An empath? Those are still around?” Loki chimed in, suddenly interested in the discussion.

 

“We are not very common anymore. I worked for Star-Lord’s father, Ego. He was… what do you call him, Star-Lord?”

 

“A dickhead.”

 

“Yes. Ego was a dickhead,” Mantis concluded.

 

“Watch the language in front of the kid,” Tony chimed in. Peter rolled his eyes, but otherwise ignored him.

 

“Would you mind showing me?” All eyes turned to Steve. 

 

“Are you sure?” Mantis asked. He sat up straighter at the attention and shifted closer to Mantis with a crooked smile.

 

“I don’t see why not,” He remarked, holding out his hand for Mantis.

 

“Damn, of course it would take a empath for Steve to show an emotion,” Bucky laughed. Steve glared at him, but there was a clear glint in his eye as he responded.

  
“Watch it, Buck. I-”

 

“Love,” Mantis melted. “You feel love. Now you feel embarrassed.”

 

Steve and Bucky’s smiles dropped almost comically. Drax and Quill, who were sat between the pair, burst out laughing.

 

“Hey, it’s funny when it isn’t happening to me!” Quill quirked, slapping Drax on the shoulder and ignoring Gamora’s poignant eye roll.

 

“I’m so sorry, Captain Rogers. I really need to stop doing that…” Mantis pulled away.

 

“No, that’s-” Steve cleared his throat and nodded at her. “It’s alright, ma’am.” 

 

“Oh, do me!” Thor chimed in. Mantis got up from her spot on the floor and sat down next to him.

 

“If she says love…” Bruce muttered, earning a laugh from Loki. Mantis placed her hand on Thor’s bicep and closed her eyes.

 

“Oh!” She squeaked. “Sorry, I did not know someone could be so muscular!” Thor let out a belly laugh and pointed at Steve.

 

“Take that, Rogers!” Steve opened his mouth to respond, but was cut off Peter.

 

“What about me? I’m tough!” He chirped.

 

“You feel very…” Her eyes opened and she beamed. “Powerful! I believe I could take down Thanos right now!”

 

“I wonder if she could lift Mjolnir while connected to you…” Tony wondered aloud. Thor frowned.

 

“I told you, Tony. It was destroyed when Hela arrived at Asgard, remember?” 

 

“I know. But, actually, Peter and I made you a new one! After Ragnarok, I sent some people who owed me a couple hundred favors to scalp what was left. There wasn’t much, but we did it!”

 

“You… You did? That’s incredible!” Thor laughed, clapping his hands together.

 

“Yep! Um, it won’t work for this, though,” Peter shrugged. “The whole ‘Only Those Who Are Worthy May Lift It’ thing didn’t happen.”

 

“Uh, what? Yes it did,” Tony questioned, his brow furrowing as he looked between the two.

 

“Huh? No, no. I’ll go get it!” Peter jumped up and raced into the elevator. “Hey, would the real Mjolnir effect an elevator? Like, would it still go up if it was just on the floor?” The doors closed in front of him before he got an answer. Natasha let out a low whistle and began whispering to Gamora next to her. The elevator dinged and Peter walked out to the center of the sofa, New-Mjolnir in hand.

 

“See?” He flipped the hammer in his hands and caught it. “It doesn’t work.”

 

“Peter,” Tony stated, attempting to remain calm. “Put the hammer on the coffee table.”

 

“Um… Okay?” He placed it down and Tony stood, wiping his hands on his pants before attempting to lift the hammer with no success.

 

“Wait, so…” Rocket started. Bruce jumped, startled, before glancing down at Rocket. 

 

“I forgot you were there! Hell…” Rocket snarled at him.

 

“Peter is worthy?” Shuri concluded. Peter paled.

 

“I’m…” a sly smile spread across his face slowly. “Not surprised!” He put his hand on his hip for a moment and dropped it, shifting his weight awkwardly from one leg to the other.

 

“Oh, sit down, Peter!” Shuri laughed.

 

“No!” Thor stood abruptly, pulling Mantis up with him. “Peter is worthy! Stand proud, young one! We are equal,” he bowed before Peter, who turned red.

 

“Thank you, uh, God of Thunder that is… bowing to me… wow,” Peter took a deep breath. “You can, uh, stop bowing now, sir.”

 

Thor stood at Peter’s request and gestured to the hammer lying on the table.

 

“Please, Mantis. Try to lift the mighty Fake Mjolnir!” Mantis centered herself, gripped it tightly with the hand not resting on Thor’s arm, and began to tug. And tug. And tug. It didn’t move, and Mantis’ face fell.

 

“Aw. I couldn’t do it.”

 

“It’s okay, Mantis! Cap couldn’t lift it either,” Tony quipped.

 

“Neither could you, Stark,” Steve muttered.

 

“Yeah? Well, at least I’m not in love with the Winter Soldier, huh?” 

 

“Gentleman, stop fighting, please!” T’Challa interjected.

 

“I feel like we all forgot about me being able to lift Mjolnir too quickly-”

 

“Gamora, do you want to-”

 

“Not even if you paid me.”

 

“I am Groot!”

 

“Ha! You got him, buddy!”

 

“Stop encouraging him! Groot keeps tweeting from my account!”

 

“No one follows you anyways, Quill!”   
  
“Nebula! Gamora, make her stop!”   
  
“Both of you. Shut up.”

 

“What the Hell is happening?”

 

“We’re definitely not beating Thanos together.”

 

“No one even invited you, Loki!”

 

“Did you not try to kill the Avengers a few years ago? This never would have happened in Wakanda.”

 

“Shuri, be nice, please.”

 

“Shuri has a point.”

 

“You were practically an infant then, Parker!”   
  


“Everyone be quiet!” Quill commanded silence from the room. “This is not good team building!”

 

“Everyone said no to playing Mario Party 7 together except for Loki,” Peter said.

 

“Hey! Watch it, Spider. Now. Tony, you’re up,” Mantis stood before Tony and held out her hand. He eyed it warily - Peter wasn’t sure if he was actually cautious or merely putting on a show - before taking it in his own gingerly. 

 

“Promise not to tell Pepper about this?” Tony raised an eyebrow at Mantis. She cocked her head, sparing a confused glance at the salt and pepper shakers that sat on the kitchen counter behind Stark before turning her attention towards Tony and his emotions.

 

Mantis scrunched up her face. A silence fell as she focused. Letting her eyes drift closed in thought, she leaned in closer to Tony, as though she has to work hard to get to his core - which, knowing Tony, was probably the case. All of a sudden, her big eyes opened wide and she exploded into tears. The group all jolted at once, looking to each other frantically to make a plan for her to feel better.

 

“You are overwhelmed…” Mantis cut herself off with a sob, collapsing to her knees and gripping Tony’s hand tightly. “You are overwhelmed with sadness.”

 

Tony jerked his hand away from Mantis, seemingly collected aside from the light frown on his face and the pink at the tip of his ears. He shook his head and apologized to her, avoiding the eyes of those around him.

 

“Tony…” Steve said.

 

“Don’t, Rogers!” He calmed himself, continuing much softer. “You of all people cannot pity me.”

 

Steve nodded, more to himself than anyone else, and remained silent. The room, once again, fell silent, save for the sniffling of Peter Parker. 

 

“Peter, are you okay?” Natasha murmured. He nodded and wiped his tears furiously, staring down at his folded hands resting on his lap.

 

“It’s just so unfair that you all sit here, welcomed into Mr. Stark’s home as if nothing happened in Berlin. And he’s  _ clearly  _ upset. With everything. Especially you,” He looked up then, staring fiercely into Rogers’ eyes with his own red-rimmed ones. “But he still let you come here, because he knew that this was more important than his sadness! Have you apologized? Have you?”

 

“I - I mean, I wrote a letter-”

 

“That’s not good enough! My dad…” Peter’s face fell, the red anger that rose to his cheeks paling nearly comically. “Mr. Stark is a better person than all of you, because he  _ tries  _ and  _ survives _ .”

 

Shame filled Steve, but he refused to drop the eye contact. Peter felt some slight amount of respect for Steve.

 

“I understand how you feel, Spider,” He turned to Tony. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about your parents.”

 

“I’m… It’s okay. They were dickheads anyways, I guess. Thank you,” Tony smiled at Peter. “Thank you, Pete.”

 

“It’s getting late,” Vision stated, entering the common living space with Wanda.

 

“Do you even need to sleep?” Quill asked, earning a smack from Wanda, who was now stood behind him.

 

“You guys head up. I need to finish some things down here first,” Tony said casually, happy to move on from his situation. Though there was some hesitance from Rhodey, Bruce, and Natasha, everyone left to the elevator without protest.

 

Everyone, that is, except for Peter. 

 

He got up to leave, but hovered around the staircase that led to the permanent rooms at the tower.

 

“Um, I’m sorry I called you dad earlier,” He mumbled, just loud enough for Tony to hear across the large room. Tony shook his head.

 

“Come over here, Pete,” Peter approached the beige couch again, taking a seat in front of the TV - four seats away from Tony. “You, uh, you know I’m not very good at this stuff, but. It’s okay. Really. I’m glad you think of me as, uh, as someone who supports you like that.”

 

“Oh! Good! Thanks, Mr. Stark. That means a lot,” Peter smiled and stood. “I think I’m gonna head up. Are you going to bed soon?”

 

“Not quite. I need to work in the lab to prepare for tomorrow. There must be something to update, right?” Peter frowned.

 

“You need to sleep, Mr. Stark,” Pete scolded.

 

“What happened to ‘dad’?” Peter rolled his eyes, but the flustered smile on his face was evident. 

 

“Fine,  _ dad _ . But if you’re staying down here, then I am, too,” He concluded. “FRIDAY, turn on Netflix, please!” The TV lit up. Tony slid over to Peter with the remote in hand, turning on a random episode of Parks and Recreation - It wasn’t Tony’s favorite show in the world, but Peter never seemed to shut up about Ben Wyatt for some reason.

 

“Thank you again for defending me. I’m proud of you, Pete.”

 

“Of course. I’ll stand up for you ‘til the day I die.”

**Author's Note:**

> hope u enjoyed, sorry if u cried.


End file.
